Do you really know?

Easter celebrations are typically associated with the month of April, so you might feel like the occasion has crept up on you this year, falling on Sunday 31st March. Depending on the weather forecast, you may need to wrap up a little warmer than usual on your outdoor egg hunt! You see, just like Ramadan, which we talked about recently on Do You Really Know, Easter doesn't have a fixed date; it va...

As the years go by, we're getting less and less sleep. A survey by Chemist4U in 2022 found that Brits get just 6 hours and 10 minutes of sleep per night on average. Economic stress and the overwhelming demands of modern life have been blamed for this, but there’s no real evidence to back that up. Still the fact remains that not getting enough sleep can significantly impact our daily lives, so it’s...

Smartphones only really entered our lives within the last 10 to 15 years, but they’ve since become indispensable. And it can even be hard to put them down when nighttime falls. According to Reviews.org, 60% of Americans sleep with their phone at night. How about you? You may think that having your phone next to you in bed is harmless, or even helpful. But did you know that sleeping with your phone...

Just last week, the latest edition of the annual World Happiness Report was released. The report draws data from over 140 countries, and is compiled by the Gallup World Poll in cooperation with the University of Oxford and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. If you’ve ever read up on the World Happiness Report, or other similar rankings, it will come as no surprise to you that Europe...

Flip phones or ‘dumb’ phones as they are sometimes called are making a comeback but you might be surprised to know that it's gen Z, in other words people born between 1997 and 2010 and not your grandparents who are buying them. Well unlike smartphones, the dumb phone can only make phone calls or send text messages and with only twelve buttons and no predictive text dumbphone users get straight to...

Having an orgasm triggers a cascade of physiological responses, including the tightening of muscles in the pelvic and genital regions, and the release of various hormones and neurotransmitters. It sets the heart racing, ramps up breathing, and sends blood rushing to the penis or clitoris, causing them to become erect. Of course reaching orgasm isn’t guaranteed. Before it happens, there's typically...

Social media just can't seem to shake off its obsession with thinness! Despite knowing that what we see online isn't always real, it still manages to mess with our heads. Early 2024 saw a huge fuss over the controversial "legging legs" trend, especially on TikTok. Well, believe it or not, leggings, which often get a bad rap, are making a comeback, but for all the wrong reasons. Loads of videos eme...

Perhaps you've already experienced that awkward feeling on a first date when you don't really know what to say to each other. Having a drink or going to a restaurant are great activities, but they don't always add much to the conversation. So, if you run out of questions you are often just left staring into each other's eyes and hoping for an opportunity to arise so that you might make a quick get...

As the sun sets on this rainy Sunday evening, reality sinks in. You didn't quite muster the energy to venture out, and now it's back to the grindstone. Tomorrow's Monday, signalling the return to work, and with it, a familiar wave of anxiety known as Monday morning syndrome, or the Monday blues.  It's not officially recognised by the medical community, but many people identify with those feelings....

At some point, we've all probably come up with some flimsy excuses to avoid a night out, a fancy restaurant dinner, or hanging out with friends. Sometimes it's just a lack of enthusiasm, while other times, it's because our wallets are feeling a little bit light.  We all know that leisure activities can put a serious dent in our finances, and when money gets tight, we can end up in a real financial...

Being a grafter or hustler is often portrayed in a positive light when it comes to the world of work. But there are a host of negative consequences that can arise when a person becomes a workaholic. The term was invented by American psychologist Wayne Oates back in 1971. Oates said workaholics had “an uncontrollable need to work incessantly”, and called it an addiction. It’s a real mental health c...

We all know that exercise does wonders for our bodies. But what might come as a surprise is that it can even bring us to climax, at least for women. Now, that might sound a bit far-fetched, but it's actually true: achieving the ultimate pleasure during a workout is possible. According to Medicalnewstoday.com, renowned sexologist Dr. Alfred Kinsey was the first to document instances of coregasms, n...

Numerous archaeological findings have suggested that dogs were the first animals to be domesticated by humans over 20,000 years ago. So it’s little surprise that in this day and age, 29% of UK adults own a dog. That’s according to 2023 data from vet charity PDSA.  If you have a dog, you may have been told that you share physical characteristics with it, a sort of family resemblance if you like. We...

Intermittent fasting (IF) isn’t just a diet; it’s a pattern of eating. It’s not about what you eat, but when. The idea is simple: you cycle between periods of eating and fasting. Popular methods include the 16/8 method, this involves fasting for 16 hours each day and eating all meals within an 8-hour window. On the 5:2 diet you eat normally for 5 days of the week and restricting calories to about...

According to data from Writer Buddy, Character. Ai ranks as the second most used AI tool behind ChatGPT. It received 3.8 billion visits in the twelve months following its launch in September 2022.  Now, if you’re not familiar with the service, users can create their own chatbots based on famous figures like Albert Einstein or Elon Musk, fictional characters, or custom-created avatars. Some people...

We've all experienced that strange sensation of stepping out of the bath or swimming pool, and noticing grooves which have formed on the tips of our fingers. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It's not just because our skin absorbs water and swells up, as you might think. It's actually also down to our nervous system being at work, causing our blood vessels to constrict. So, what's happening...

In Tim Burton’s 2004 film “The Corpse Bride,” groom to be Victor, rehearses his wedding vows in the forest to calm his anxiety. However, he mistakenly slips the ring onto what he thinks is a tree branch but is actually the finger of Emily, the corpse of a mysterious young woman in a bridal gown. Victor then finds himself immersed in the colorful and joyful world of the dead. But it is not just fai...

According to Mental Health UK, nearly one in five people in the country don’t get enough sleep. We’ve talked about various types of sleep disorder in the past on Do You Really Know and the link between good sleep and good health is well established. Many people turn to sleeping pills, but there’s a totally natural alternative which may actually yield better results. What's that? Why is sex so bene...

Discovering your first grey hair can be quite the shock. After all, it marks the onset of an irreversible change. And the fact that it’s a natural process is often of little consolation.  The culprits, if you want to think about it like that, behind our hair turning grey are the melanocytes contained in each of our hair follicles. These cells contain melanin, which is the natural pigment responsib...

In early 2023, dating site Eharmony released findings from a survey of over 1000 singletons. The research found that on average they spent 55 minutes per day logged in to the dating app, with six conversations on the go at the same time. Despite that, as many as 70% of those surveyed felt heavy dating app usage had a negative impact on their mental health. Spending so much energy on dating can get...

In this age of responsible and measured consumption, we’re tending to turn more and more towards products with a long lifespan and a good guarantee. In fact, you’ve probably already seen this on a cast-iron saucepan, a bicycle or even household appliances, promising a lifetime guarantee. But the terms and conditions of this promise are not always very clear. Therefore, it’s important to understand...

After a period off work or studying, it can be difficult to get your neurons up and running again, can’t it. But you can actually get a little boost by being more selective with the foods you eat, given that nutrition plays a crucial role in brain function. That’s because certain nutrients contribute to the smoothness and communication between neurons. They also influence our microbiome, which com...

According to Whatsapp, over 7 billion voice notes are sent on the app every day. A lot of the time, they offer a more personal touch and clearer explanations than text messages. But not everyone is a fan.  Tech journalist Victoria Turk published an article on the Huffington Post in 2019 under the headline “Can We All Agree That WhatsApp Voice Notes Are Terrible?”, while in 2023 Women’s Health Mag...

Perfume is a luxury product worn by people all around the world, but fragrances are not without health risks. Perfumes use a mix of chemicals, some are natural, such as essential oils from plants, but many of them are synthetic, meaning they are created in a laboratory. The problem is that the perfume industry is not very transparent about what goes into their products. They can hide hundreds of i...

Let’s face it there are certain sounds that are just annoying to be exposed to, or sometimes even to think of! Someone chewing loudly with their mouth open, slurping soup, or making noise while eating pasta are a few examples.  But for some people, the impact of these sounds goes beyond being simply annoying; they bring on strong negative reactions. Those people have a neuropsychiatric condition c...